Sunday, April 25, 2010

Genealogy, A Treasure Hunt, soon to be replaced by A Genealogy Hunt, has now topped 4,041 visits and 8,865 page views. This March had the highest number of visitors since I began last May. Genealogy’s ranking in Top Listed.net seems to maintain regularly as one of the top 5 Sites. (I just checked and Genealogy, A Treasure Hunt is now number 2.)

I am continuing with my Transcription Project just searching as many Records for the genealogy and ancestral origins of GGG-Grandfather James Smith. Check out the newest Postings referencing property purchases.

Postings to Quilts SB are, as always, at a slower pace. Since the Blogsite’s inception last month, we’ve seen 343 visits and 843 page views. This morning we are ranked number 26 of the top 50 at Top Listed.net. We did reach a number 2 at one point. With all the quilting sites worldwide I didn’t expect to even touch the top 500.

To date we have completed six quilt designs in our C&N Series: C&N; Patience; Altered Logs I; Altered Logs II; A Mazed; and V Bricks. C&N, Patience and Altered Logs II are finished. In our TATW (pronounced tay-toe) Series we now have five designs: Provence; Café au Lait; Tango 3; and Bayberry. We began a new one yesterday inspired by a Japanese design called Kanzashi. And we are working on two other designs which, all-things-being-equal will find homes in Ashville, North Carolina and Barrie, Ontario.

I’ve upgraded my operating system to Windows 7 and have added Ubuntu which of course means that some applications and programs may or may not take too kindly to being disturbed.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The sun is shining. The temperature is fantastic. There isn’t any smell of humidity in the air.

And we ran out of Longarm Professional quilting thread. We had to order our new supply of large spools which originates from YLI Corporation of Rock Hill, South Carolina. We sort of have a backup on the completion of our current quilts. The quilts waiting to be done include Altered Logs I, A Mazed, and V Bricks from our C&N Series; Orange Peel Indian Summer; and Provence and Café au Lait from our TATW (pronounced tay-toe) Series.

But of course we can’t sit on our hands waiting. The next two new designs of our TATW Series began this morning. They are Tango 3 and Bayberry. All-things being equal we may be able to develop another quilt for the TATW Series of the remaining fabric. See My Quip of April 9 to check out the original fabrics that are being used in this Series.

Altered Logs Quilts are a derivation on the very familiar pattern, Log Cabin. (See My Quip Posting.) There is a good article on the history of Log Cabin Quilts at Quilt Patterns Through Time. Our Altered Logs Quilts are a bit twisted, sort of Alice Pleasance meets Daniel Boone meets Kaffe Fassett.

The dimensions of Altered Logs II are: Width - 60" (152 cms.) and Length - 60" (152 cms.) All fabrics, batting, backing, and thread are of 100% cotton. Altered Logs II can be used as a wall-hanging, a decorating accent, or a lap quilt.

Here are a series of closeups.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of my Blog page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blogsite does to properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always working to make sure there is an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

One never knows what one may find hidden in the recesses of the old and many databases tucked away on one’s PC. I’m just amazed. Tonight I just found a picture of a quilt we designed and completed in 2000. The quilt was named Hydra and it was donated to the organization Art For Life.

Hydra was made to be a wall-hanging and from what I understand it was sold at auction and is a part of a collection. I found my specification file as well and we can approximate that the final quilt was about 76” (193 cms.) wide and 58” (147 cms.) in length. The quilt is made up of six colored fabrics: yellow; orange; red; purple; blue; and green; and it includes black and white. There are a total of 822 – 2 ½” squares; 136 – 2 ¾” triangles; and 10 mini-triangles.

As a side, I did notice one thing about the Hydra hanging. The wooden dowel used at the top of the quilt is the same dowel that I bought on that day in February when I was involved in the car accident. Funny, what’s at times hidden in an image in a folder in the recesses of one’s PC.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of my Blog page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blogsite does to properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always working to make sure there is an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Early Morning,
I thought you would like to get a quick glimpse at the start of our new Series. We've decided on two major components: the fabrics and the patterns. The image at the right presents the 10 fabrics. Our intentions and hopes are to work on variations of the "Trip Around The World" pattern. Two of our previously made quilts both incorporate this pattern. See Q23 and Q43.

At present we also have in the wings and in process five other quilts: V-Bricks; A-Mazed; Altered Logs I; Altered Logs II; and our version of Orange Peel Indian Summer.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

As I mentioned previously, we are trying to provide an album of as many of the quilts that we have made over the years, and thank you KF for sending the pictures of your wall hanging, KittyWood. This quilt and wall hanging was our first attempt of creating a landscape of a birch wood using the fabric as appliques cutouts.

The dimensions of KittyWood are: Width – 26.5” (67.3 cms) and Length – 37” (93.9 cms). As a part of a collection, KittyWood was removed from its home on the wall for the photo shoot.

Here are a close-up and an image of the back of the quilt.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of my Blog page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blogsite does to properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always working to make sure there is an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

Monday, April 5, 2010

And this morning I’ve been able to get some images of one of our earlier quilts which was made about 2000. I called it MJ Blues. The technique and pattern is “Trip Around The World” and one of the first quilts we learned when we decided to get into this art form of quilting. From what I’ve discovered this pattern was very popular during the 1930s. It is called "Trip Around The World" as the center of the quilt is the “World” and the colors progress and issue from and around that center. MJ Blues is currently in a collection.

The dimensions are: Width – 49” (125 cms) and Length – 75” (191 cms). The colors are blue, (a statement of fact.) Thank you MJ for the pictures. Here are some close-ups:

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of my Blog page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blogsite does to properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always working to make sure there is an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

All the morning chores taken care of and before I get into designing the next quilt of the next series of I thought you may like to get a glimpse of the top of V Bricks from the C&N Series.

This time and again we’ve incorporated a good percentage of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. And again the pattern and construction is based on vertical strips of rectangular blocks, or bricks. Each brick is approximately 7” (17.8 cms) by 3” (7.6 cms).

The impression of a quilt of vertical rectangles dates to the late 1700s, and the construction idea for this quilt is taken from Fassett’s book Museum Quilts, Designs Inspired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, with Liza Prior Lucy; 2005.

We have added a frame to give it a sense of a depiction of the colors.

It’s all-out war. Me against them. Me and the canines. Not my teeth, I can’t afford another dog-induced crown. It’s me and the LabRat Unit against the orange and tabby she-devils. I need to do my genealogy and my quilting without the distraction of a cat conflict.

And this morning, they had attacked. Dirt had been sprayed over the boardwalk. The Basils took a hit. And when we went for our morning walk two of the feline recruits were just lying in the sun on the other side of the street. I was so tempted to unhitch the whining hounds.

The gas of the Critter Rid does not seem to work for the purported 30 days. It only works for one day. And my mask down, I now wait for the next shock and awe.

Oh and by the way, thanks to all for visiting both Blogs, Genealogy, A Treasure Hunt and Quilts SB. March saw a new milestone of the total number of visitors since I began blogging. A total of 627 visitors world-wide; 457 (a record for Genealogy, a Treasure Hunt) and 170 (three weeks of Quilts SB). And this isn’t any April Fool’s joke.

Our Blumish Two has been selected as finalist and for display at the Evolutions 2014 Challenge at The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado. The Show will be held July 31- October 28,2014.

Our BW 1950 and BW 2010 have been selected to be exhibited as a part of the 2014 Notable Women Quilt Initiative sponsored by the Rogue Art Quilters of Ashland.

Our BW 1950 and BW 2010 have been selected to be exhibited as a part of the 2014 Mountain Stars Biennial Quilt Show in a featured presentation sponsored by the Rogue Art Quilters of Ashland. The Show will be presented at the Medford Armory in Medford, Oregon June 27-29.

To see a Catalog of the quilts we have created, designed, and constructed, scroll down this page to The Grid, Quilts By Essbee. Click on the "Q" number of the titled Quilt to be linked with its associated page. You may also click on the small picture of each Quilt to view an enlarged screen view.

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Greetings and good-day...
This is our Blog where we hope to show and share our Quilt work and creations. We began quilting a few years ago and now try to spend as much time as possible working with designs, fabrics, our machines, and thread.
All our projects are completed here in Tampa. We try to create, design, borrow, and beg our ideas from the past, the present, from those artists much more experienced, and at times from that which takes our fancy.

Please Note: All information and data... and work found on this blogsite and website is available for your use. Please do not be a "scab" and steal this information without acknowledgement of source. Also pleased be advised that there could be Copyright issues and legal yada...yadada...das... so be prewarned...